1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a heat pipe structure, and more particularly to a heat pipe structure with an extremely thin thickness.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, there is a trend to develop lightweight and thin electronic mobile devices. The lightweight and thin electronic mobile devices have higher and higher operation performance. However, along with the promotion of the operation performance and the reduction of the total thickness of the electronic mobile device, the internal space of the electronic mobile device for receiving electronic components is minified and limited. Moreover, when the operation performance is enhanced, the heat generated by the electronic components is increased. Therefore, a heat dissipation component is needed to help in dissipating the heat generated by the electronic components. However, due to the thinning of the electronic mobile device, the internal space of the electronic mobile device is so narrow that it is hard to arrange a heat dissipation component such as a cooling fan in the electronic mobile device. Under such circumstance, only a copper thin sheet or an aluminum thin sheet can be disposed to enlarge the heat dissipation area. However, this can hardly sufficiently enhance the heat dissipation efficiency.
In the conventional technique, a heat pipe or vapor chamber can be thinned and applied to the electronic mobile device. However, it is hard to fill powder into the thin heat pipe and sinter the powder. As a result, an extremely thin electronic mobile device can be hardly achieved. Also, after the powder is filled and sintered and when the heat pipe is flattened into a flat structure, the sintered powder or other capillary structure (mesh body or fiber body) in the heat pipe will be compressed and damaged to lose its function.
In addition, in order to more thin the conventional vapor chamber, the internal support structure is often omitted. In this case, after the vapor chamber is vacuumed and sealed, the internal chamber of the vapor chamber is likely to deform. As a result, the internal vapor passage of the conventional thin heat pipe or vapor chamber will be contracted and minified or even disappear. This will affect the vapor-liquid circulation efficiency of the heat pipe or vapor chamber. Therefore, it has become a critical issue how to improve the internal vapor-liquid circulation structure of the thin heat pipe and vapor chamber.